The game requires various types of skills and physical abilities. From quick reactions to speed, strength and balance, volleyball demands a lot from a player. Therefore, every athlete's responsibility is to make sure that all aspects are covered in their training plan through the line of force/kinetic chain. Identify weaknesses, plan, do and review plans for every individual player as everyone may need something else to work on. Volleyball requires the physical ability to repeat high power movements with short recovery intervals.
Here are the game basics:
The speed of the service can go as high as over 130km/h which means that the reception might be as little as 0.7s or less after the serve
Single play time (with 4 touches including serve) can last 5 seconds
Rally time 5 - 30s
Set duration from 20 minutes
Match duration minimum of 60 minutes up to 150 minutes plus warm-up and cool down. Question - how long does your training last?
Number of attacks (player match) - 50 times on average
PHYSICAL FACTORS (FIVB, Level II - Coaches manual, p.18)
Attack, serve: range of movement and stability of the shoulder joint
range of movement of the thoracic vertebrae
stability and strength of the trunk
Reception, digging: flexibility of ankle and hip flexor joints
stability of the shoulder and elbow joints
stability of the trunk
Block: stability and strength of the trunk
stability of the shoulder and the elbow joints
Pass: range of movement and stability of the shoulder joints and the chest
range of movement of the wrist joint
Jump: muscular strength (power) of the buttocks and legs
strengthen the trunk
As you can see, before anything else the range of movement, stability, and flexibility comes before the strength and power. And here is the thing, athletes jump to the weight room before they work on their mobility and flexibility (stretching). And it makes sense, a higher range of motion of the muscle in the joint can produce more force during contractions. Also, stability and balance are here imperative for injury prevention and coping with pressures in the musculoskeletal system. These exercises you may add at the beginning of your workout session before you move to the resistance part.
Dynamic laying piriformis
DESIGNING YOUR TRAINING PLAN
There are several principles and methods for resistance training but what we need to know here are simple steps that if you follow, you're on a very good way to reaching your goals. Let's not forget that we don't necessarily speak about the gym, you may need to work on speed, coordination or agility.
Analyse the requirements and training goals - anamnesis = consultation, entry tests
Selection of the exercises - what
Training frequency - how often
Exercise order - flow
Training load and repetitions - how many and rep%
Training volume - how much
Training intensity - rest and heart rate
2) Examples of exercises related to exercise movement:
Jump: squat, snatch, Romanian deadlift - RDL, calf raise
Dig receive: sidestep lunge
Attack, serve: triceps extension, internal and external shoulder rotation, pull-ups, slams
Block: pullover
3) Training frequency
There are at least 3 things to consider when choosing the right frequency: training experience, competition level and competition season (off, pre, in, post - season).
Category | Training Experience (gym) | Training frequency (sessions per week) |
|---|---|---|
Beginner | 0 - 1 years | 2-3 (or less depending on age and competition level) |
Intermediate | 1-3 years | 3-4 |
Advanced | 3 + years | 4-6 |
4) Exercise order: Exercises must be chosen considering training goal, specific volleyball movement, experience with resistance training, available facilities and equipment, available time and competition season.
5) Load and repetitions: load vs. sets. reps. These figures are based on similar aspects as the exercise order. However, training goals have a leading role as we want to make sure to combine the right numbers in measurable outcomes. The '2 for 2' system can be applied which means that your increase the weight load if the athlete is able to perform 2 more repetitions than intended in 2 consecutive training sessions.
6) Intensity: this is based on the trainability level of the athlete, metabolic capacity and overall physical condition. A good measure here is the heart rate zones because they will indicate how quickly we're able to recover. The simplest way is to determine how long will the rest last not only between exercises and sets but also between sessions.
A simple example of a training session focused on the increase of the muscular strength
Exercise | Reps | Sets | Rest (min) |
Squat | 5-6 | 5 | 2-3 |
Bench Press | 5-6 | 5 | 2-3 |
Romanian deadlift | 5-6 | 5 | 2-3 |
Shoulder Lateral raise | 10 | 3 | 1 |
Leg curl | 10 | 3 | 1 |
Crunch | 20 | 3 | 1 |
Even though it may seem like a difficult task to do, it is actually pretty simple to build a plan for everybody with the right guidance. For that go back to the home page and book your free consultation with me.
Coach Marek
Comments